Taiheiki

Chapter 150 The Fish Slicer

"Okay, you're in!" Wu Ze nodded and said to the guard, "After you finish eating, wash yourself clean and bring it to my place!"

"Yes, sir!" the guard replied. After Wu Ze had walked away, he turned back to Qin Ke and laughed, "You brat, you really have to thank me this time. You've risen to the top in one step!"

"Killing fish, and you're on your way to the top?" Qin Ke asked, puzzled.

"Of course!" the guard laughed. "Compared to here, isn't everywhere a shortcut to success? Besides, I've heard that the master has developed a new fishing net that can catch hundreds or even thousands of pounds of fish in one go. With so many fish, even if you miss a few, you'll be stuffed to death. Here, you can only eat rocks! Alright, enough nonsense. Go and tidy yourself up, make sure you're clean, or you'll be in trouble if they send you back!"

Qin Ke was taken to the water's edge for a bath in a daze. After taking some of his personal belongings, he and four or five companions were led to a large courtyard not far from the dock. The person leading the way stopped and called out, "The person you're looking for has arrived. Someone come out and greet them!"

"New people have arrived? Good, good, I'll be right out!" A moment later, a middle-aged woman in her early thirties came out of the house. Her face immediately darkened when she saw Qin Ke: "These are the ones, why do they all look so dull?"

"You came from the quarry. If I threw you in there for half a month, you'd be just as bad. Don't worry, they've all been sorted. They're hardworking and honest. If you don't want them, I'll take them back!" The guide said, making a move to turn and leave.

"No, no!" The woman quickly grabbed him. "I want it, I want it, okay? Oh dear, I really don't know where all these fish came from. I wish I could split one of my men in half to make him two. It's better than having no one at all!"

"Busy? Who here isn't busy as a head start? You still complain about having too much fish, sister-in-law? If you could eat as much as you want back in Ganxian, you'd probably be smiling from ear to ear in your sleep!"

"Alright, alright, it was all my fault for being so talkative. I'll apologize, okay?" The woman was speechless after being told off by the man who had led the way. The man smiled and said to Qin Ke, "You little rascal, I know you're ambitious. Don't think that just because you lost a battle and became a prisoner, you'll never have a chance to rise again. There are plenty of people here with similar backgrounds to you who have made it big in just a few months. Keep working hard. What's past is past. Look forward and don't do anything foolish!"

"Look forward and don't do anything foolish?" These words struck Qin Ke's heart like a hammer blow. He was stunned for a moment. His nostalgia for the past and his longing for the future collided, making his heart a mess.

After the woman saw the others off, she turned around and saw Qin Ke standing there blankly, as if he had been stunned. She quickly called out, "Don't stand there like an idiot! There's a lot going on inside! We don't keep idle people here!"

Qin Ke followed the woman into the courtyard, which was filled with a strange, nauseating smell of sweat and fish. The woman led Qin Ke to a long table, skillfully picked up a lively tuna, placed it back-side down with its head facing her, and pulled up the ventral fin with her left hand. She then used a short knife to make a long, diagonal cut below the fin, removing the internal organs and placing them in a bamboo basket. Turning to Qin Ke, she said, "Do it like this. Don't break the gallbladder, or the fish will taste bitter. Did you see that? Do it this way!"

Qin Ke sat down at the long table, took the short knife from the woman's hand, and then imitated her by grabbing a fish, gutting it. He was secretly surprised by the sharpness of the knife in his hand. They had so much good iron that even their fish-killing knife was so good!

"Why did you stop? Take the internal organs out!"

The woman's scolding startled Qin Ke. He quickly removed the fish's internal organs and put them in a bamboo basket, then moved the fish to the other side.

"Very good, do it that way, and be quick. Remember, don't cut the fish gallbladder into pieces!" The woman gave a few instructions and then left. Soon, Qin Ke was overwhelmed by more and more sea fish. He had no time to recall the past; he could only mechanically grab the fish, cut open their bellies, and remove the internal organs, putting them into a bamboo basket. Compared to the quarry, the food here was much better: dry rice, large chunks of roasted fish sashimi, topped with a strange sauce—it was extremely delicious. Sometimes there was even a little pork and chicken.

Qin Ke quickly discovered the source of the food—these outsiders had set up a fish market on the riverbank: locals from Panyu flocked to buy fish, and the prices were much cheaper than the original fish market. If you had nothing, that didn't matter; you could work as a laborer. The people here always had work to do, and you could take away half a basket of crabs after working for half a day, enough for your family to have a good meal.

Even so, they couldn't consume all the fish they caught each day. So they used the fish entrails and scraps to feed the chickens, dogs, and pigs they traded for, and made more fertilizer and fish sauce. Large pieces of fish meat were dried, crushed, and made into fish floss, which was then stored in earthenware jars or wooden barrels. Qin Ke sometimes felt like one of those fish, chopped up, crushed, and dried, and could no longer identify which fish or what kind of fish it came from.

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"Master Kong, what do you think of these characters?" Wei Cong asked Kong Gui, pointing to the plaque on the bamboo shed not far away.

"No one who does not work shall eat? This is Cao Cao's handwriting? Why is this plaque hung here?" Kong Gui read aloud as he looked at the plaque. He knew that Wei Cong had excellent handwriting, which was why, although many scholars in Lingnan hated him with a passion, no one attacked him for being "from a military family" or "of humble origin"—Wei Cong's background could be proven by his outstanding handwriting alone.

"Come closer and you'll see!" Wei Cong said with a smile.

A crowd of people stood in front of the bamboo shed, most of them ragged and pale. In this lean season of spring famine, groups of starving people could be seen in any county of the Han Dynasty, let alone Jiaozhou, which had just finished fighting. These poor people waited patiently at the entrance of the bamboo shed, seemingly waiting for something.

"A soup kitchen?" Kong Gui asked.

"Yes, to be precise, it should be called a hot water supply station! The hot water supplied here is brown!"

"Brown soup? What's that?"

"You'll see when you go inside!" Wei Cong smiled and led Kong Gui around to the back of the bamboo shed. There, four large pots, each the size of a bath tub, were placed side by side. The charcoal fire underneath was burning brightly, and several shirtless men were standing on the stove, stirring vigorously with wooden sticks. The aroma emanating from the iron pots mingled with the smells of sweat, fish, and the burning of charcoal, creating an indescribable odor that Kong Gui would never forget.

"A gentleman does not go near the kitchen; today we've made Master Kong suffer!" Wei Cong smiled and said to the staff on duty beside him, "Hurry up and put in the ingredients!"

"Yes, sir!" the man replied, waving his hand. The man next to him then poured buckets of unknown stuff into the soup pot. Kong Gui frowned and asked, "What's in the soup pot?" "There are radishes, taro, sunflowers, pumpkin, some millet and beans, and mostly fish bones. As you requested, the soup should be thick; a chopstick inserted into it shouldn't fall out!"

Kong Gui walked into a bamboo basket that had just been delivered. It was filled with fish bones, or more accurately, fish fillets. The fattest parts of the fish had been cut off, leaving only the spine and ribs, with a lot of meat still on them.

"You call this fish bone?" Kong Gui asked in surprise, "There's clearly still a lot of meat on it!"

"Oh, there's too much fish!" Wei Cong laughed. "The processing plant doesn't have time to pick it out bit by bit, so it can only be processed into fish bones. If we don't want it here, we'll have to send it to fertilize the fields. Luckily, I have some fruit and vegetable gardens outside Panyu City, so it will come in handy!"

Kong Gui remained silent. He recalled the mountains of fish he and Wei Cong had seen at the fishing dock last time. He had initially thought Wei Cong was putting on a show for him, but now it seemed he had misunderstood. Just as he was pondering how to subtly inquire, the steward beside him said, "My lord, this pot is almost done cooking!"

"Okay, bring me a bowl!" Wei Cong hesitated for a moment, then added, "Bring a bowl for Master Kong as well!"

"Here!"

A moment later, two large bowls of soup were brought over. The dark brown soup was very thick, and Kong Gui now knew why Wei Cong called it brown soup.

"Please!" Wei Cong gestured, picked up a bowl and drank. Kong Gui hesitated for a moment, then picked up a bowl, scooped up a spoonful and took a small sip. The taste was surprisingly good, thick and rich. Apart from a slightly fishy smell, it could even be described as delicious. Wei Cong was actually using this stuff to provide relief to the starving people?

"It tastes good!" Wei Cong finished the soup in a few gulps and handed the bowl to the steward: "It would be even better with more minced ginger! Master Kong, is it to your liking?"

"Not bad!" Kong Gui handed the soup bowl back to the steward beside him: "Mengde treats these starving people very well, but what does the plaque on the door mean?"

"It's very simple. This brown soup isn't for nothing! After drinking it, you have to go to work. Everyone, from the elderly to the children, has to go!"

"What can the elderly and children do?"

“There’s plenty!” Wei Cong laughed. “The elderly can go to workshops that make ropes and fishing nets, and children can take apart the old ropes they collect and make fine hemp floss, which is a good material for filling the gaps in the planks of boats. There are also odd jobs in tung oil workshops. There are so many jobs to be done here. As long as you have hands and feet, there’s always work to be done! Kong Gong, haven’t you noticed? Haven’t all the beggars and idlers on the streets of Panyu City disappeared these days? I’ve sent them all to work in various workshops!”

Kong Gui was taken aback by what he heard. He was fond of classical studies, especially the Zuo Zhuan and the Book of Changes. In his spare time, he would study and recite with his students in his mansion, enjoying himself. He did not pay much attention to things outside the mansion. Especially after Wei Cong defeated Zhang Xu and pacified the five counties of Jiaozhou, and Panyu returned to peace, he resumed his old life as a recluse. He would not have noticed whether there were beggars or idlers on the street.

"What does Mengde need so many workshops for?"

“Of course there’s work to be done!” Wei Cong laughed. “Take this place, for example. Without fishing boats, there’s nothing here. But to have fishing boats, there need to be more than a dozen workshops for logging, rope making, net making, tung oil production, lacquer making, ironwork, bamboo work, sail making, etc. The fish caught also need to be processed quickly, either into fish sauce, fish floss, or fertilizer, otherwise they’ll just rot. To make fish sauce, you need a lot of salt, and to make fish floss, you need a lot of firewood and charcoal. The fish sauce and fish floss also need a place to be sold, so you need docks and roads. You need pottery jars to hold them, so you need pottery workshops and quarries to pave roads. You see, just fishing alone requires a hundred or so workshops, and each of them needs people. So what do you think I need workshops for?”

Kong Gui was dizzy from Wei Cong's rapid-fire words and said with a wry smile, "But don't you think this is troublesome? Besides, with so many workshops and so many people, how are you going to support them?"

"It is quite troublesome, but otherwise, how could those fishermen, with only seven or eight people, catch thousands of pounds of fish in one trip? Humans are born without claws or wings; the reason they can govern all things is by making good use of tools! And the more exquisite and detailed the tools, the greater the human skill. To make exquisite tools, we need to categorize them and let everyone do what they are good at. Blacksmiths should focus on blacksmithing, potters should focus on pottery, and then they should trade with each other to obtain what they need. As for your last question, it's not me who supports them, it's them who support me!"

Wei Cong's answer was like a muffled thunderclap, striking Kong Gui's head. He was speechless for a long time before finally saying, "I didn't expect that you, Mengde, would also have some knowledge of the Mohist books!"

Wei Cong smiled but didn't speak. He knew Kong Gui was changing the subject. The two left Shitang Station and walked side by side for about a hundred paces when Kong Gui suddenly asked, "Mengde, what are your thoughts on the future of the Han Dynasty?"

"The future of the Han Dynasty?"

“Yes, that is the future of the Han Dynasty!” Kong Gui stopped and looked into Wei Cong’s eyes. “Although I have read some books, I can only read books. I can’t apply the principles of the sages. I’m just a walking encyclopedia. It would have been fine during the reign of Emperor Ming and Emperor Zhang, but in recent years I have only felt that the world is in chaos and I really can’t see the future. That’s why I hid in this Lingnan region and became a governor. But I didn’t expect that I still couldn’t escape and ran into you, Mengde.” He sighed and smiled self-deprecatingly.

"In fact, Master Kong, you are right!" Wei Cong laughed. "Shen Sheng will perish if he is inside, but Chong Er will be safe if he is outside. Your coming to Jiaozhou is actually a brilliant move!"

"Then, do you also think the future of the Han Dynasty is worrying?" Kong Gui asked.

"The world's affairs, after a long period of unity, will inevitably divide; after a long period of division, will inevitably unite. This is an eternal truth, and it cannot be reversed by human power. Since Emperor Gaozu slew the white snake to punish the tyrannical Qin dynasty and destroyed Xiang Yu to establish the Han dynasty, it has been almost four hundred years. That's long enough!"

"But everyone says that my great ancestor, Emperor Gao, surpassed the three kings in virtue and the five emperors in merit, so he predicted that the reign of Emperor Gao would be twice that of the Xia and Shang dynasties, and that the reign of Emperor Gao would be greater than that of the Ji family. But now it has only been four hundred years, almost half of that time!" Kong Gui asked anxiously.

(End of this chapter)